Baidu's Box Computing: Beating Google In Its Own Game

By Jiang Zhang:According toWall Street Journal, Google (GOOG) will introduce its new search algorithm called "Semantic Search" to defend its market share against rivals such as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). While this initiative will likely allow Google to counter its competitors in North America, the company will continue to suffer market share decline in China due to Baidu's (BIDU) dominance in online search with its own semantic search engine called "Box Computing."Semantic Search is superior to traditional key word search in that it generates more relevant search results by understanding the contextual meaning of the words and the searchers' intent. Currently, semantic search is widely used by iPhone's voice-activated personal assistant, Siri, which attempts to understand the speaker's verbal command and answers with information gathered from Google and Wolfram Alpha, a search engine that uses semantic search.Baidu first introduced box computing at Baidu Innovation Conference in summer 2009 asComplete Story »

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By Jiang Zhang:Sogou, the internet search unit of Sohu (SOHU), is often overlooked by investors as one of leading search engines in China due to the prominence of rival Baidu (BIDU). As I stated in my earlier thesis on Sohu, Sogou Search is likely to become a major player in China's internet search market and will be a critical component of Sohu's brand invention.

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That’s right. With the recent share price plunge in Apple (AAPL), from over $700 to around $525, the stock is rapidly approaching the valuation of 1990′s tech darling Microsoft (MSFT). While clearly facing near-term headwinds, both on the